GBS begins its first concert of 2018 with La Marseillaise, and we’ll marchons, marchons from there!

Guest performers abound at this concert of thrilling music. Pianist Andrew Armstrongwill headline with a rich rendition of the Emperor Concerto (Piano Concerto No. 5), one of Beethoven’s most celebrated works. You may ask, “Isn’t Beethoven German? What’s he doing in a French concert?” The story goes that this heroic composition was written to honor the new emperor Napoleon, but later in life Beethoven soured on Napoleon, and denied that he’d dedicated the piece to him — all part of the turbulent history of French politics, and politics across Europe in the early 1800s.

The program then looks at the music of two French composers, whose work represents the flowering of the arts later in the 1800s, in very different ways. Gabriel Fauré’ s haunting, lyrical Requiem will be presented with a wealth of local talent: the Fairfield County Children’s Choir and the University of Bridgeport’s University Singers will join baritone Thomas Woodman (of Fairfield). The concert concludes with selections from Georges Bizet’s most famous work Carmen, whose dramatic themes are virtually a byword for opera.